Paths Cross
by ShadowKnight49
Summary: Before Obsidian came, the Gems had been enjoying themselves. Nothing else was important to them. All that mattered was then. (prequel to Fiery Rule. OCxLapis, OCxPearl, OCxPeridot. Steven hasn't been born yet, folks)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, guys. I'm SK49 Productions with the prequel of my adventure story 'Fiery Rule.' (jazz hands) Anyone in for a biscuit? I've been trying to figure out my British roots, and only now do I realize a cookie is a biscuit in British.**

**Raven: No, durr.**

**Everyone: DURR!**

**Me: DURRR OH SHUT THE FRONT DURR!**

Chapter 1: Skipping Stones

It was a stressing day.

Lapis had been pushed around by Jasper-again- and had slipped due to her bare feet and landed on her back on the ground. Everyone laughed.

Afterwards, she had gone to see Yellow Diamond, who had lowered her salary down 25%.

With that much down, she would be one of the 'tainted': a Gem version of what the humans called 'poor.'

It was what humans referred to as 'evening,' but Gems didn't pay much attention to time periods.

Lapis walked over to the shore, her favorite spot due to her abilities over water. It was quiet, as no Gem really fancied water besides her.

Today was an exception.

A male gem, all green, threw rocks into the water. He wore an attire like what humans called a 'teenager,' with a green hoodie and pants, boots included.

And man, he was _ticked!_

He threw the rocks with such rage, it would disappear out of sight. He would growl and try again.

Lapis may not have known who he was and whatever was going on with him, but she walked up behind him anyway.

He didn't care. He just picked up another rock from the sand and threw it into the water.

Lapis tried for a different strategy.

He threw a rock, and it started sinking.

Then it started floating, and afterwards skipping until it was out of Lapis' range.

He scrunched his eyebrows and considered this, then turned to see Lapis. He gave out a slight yell, but calmed himself.

"Hi," Lapis greeted.

He sighed and turned. He clawed his hair for a second, muttering to himself.

"I can't…. how could it be?... talking to me… bad day…. no idea…" she caught.

He finally spun around and held out a hand.

"Hi. Name's Emerald," he offered.

She shook his hand.

"Lapis."

Emerald frowned and studied her.

"I've… I've seen that before…" he said.

"Seen what?" Lapis asked, bewildered.

"Posture, expression, eyes. You're having a crummy day, right?"

"Y…. yeah. How did you know that out of all those expressions?"

"I see that every day. I always look like that."

"Really?" Lapis didn't expect him to be so… nice.

Emerald looked at the sky and said, "Well, it's my bedtime. I'd better get a move on."

"See you tomorrow?"

"Same time, same place."

Emerald ran off, parkouring anything.

Lapis just couldn't take her eyes off until he left.

_I'll definitely see you tomorrow, _she thought.


	2. Down in the Kindergarten

Chapter 2: Washing Down the Sadness

Emerald brought out two green, jagged swords.

"I don't get why I didn't get an axe or something," Emerald told Lapis. "I have some tendency to become pretty darn mad, and I expect a brutish weapon than that. But I get two swords."

He turned to Lapis after giving his swords a twirl.

"What's your weapon?"

"It's not really a weapon," Lapis told him.

She brought out her watery wings, and Emerald stared.

"That is awesome," he said in awe. "I wish I could have wings."

"It also comes with hydrokenesis, you know, control over water."

"I wish I could fly."

"I wish I had an actual weapon."

The two sighed.

They had been meeting for three days now. They talked about what they were going through and how they felt about things. It was like finally lifting an anvil off their shoulders from all of the pressure.

Emerald smiled at Lapis and asked, "See you tomorrow?"

"You know you will."

The two split paths as it became dark.

**The Kindergarten**

Amethyst was still mastering her weapon when it slapped against Titanium's thick back.

Titanium span around angrily.

He was, like her, in the appearance of a five year old. However, he was rippling with giant muscles, not like a five year old. His entirety was steel gray and darker grey eyes.

"What are you doing, half-pint?!" he demanded.

Amethyst, who had an unusually rude but light personality, cowered from the hulking Gem. She usually acted like some class-clown, but Titanium was the one she feared. Titanium was the one to slap off the big grin on her face.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry, Titanium…" she stammered.

Titanium growled.

"Titanium, stop it!"

Amethyst, in confusion, turned to her right.

A male Gem with ruffled aqua blue hair, darker blue skin, and sea-green eyes glared at Titanium.

"Aquamarine?" Titanium asked. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Protecting my friend."

Aquamarine was Amethyst's best friend. He often joked with her and broke stuff with her.

He was also her crush.

Titanium considered him. Then he scoffed and walked off.

"Um, thanks for the help," Amethyst said to Aquamarine.

Aquamarine smiled and replied, "Don't mention it."


	3. Homeworld Field Trip

Chapter 3: Homeworld Field Trip

"All Gems in the Kindergarten report to the portal," the pleasant female voice called through the whole Kindergarten.

Amethyst walked with Aquamarine over to the portal, which was in the dead-center of the Kindergarten.

Standing on the portal was, to many gasps of awe, Yellow Diamond herself.

Yellow Diamond was one of the rulers of Homeworld, between her, Blue Diamond, and White Diamond. She had a sun-shaped helmet, spiky and sleek armor, and a harsh, cruel face. Her entirety was yellow, but glowed like gold.

"I'm pretty sure you're all excited to go to Homeworld, are you all?" she asked with a grin, revealing sharp teeth.

The Kindergarten Gems cheered in excitement.

"Then come on. The tour begins as soon as you all get on this portal."

They all got on the portal, and all of them disappeared in a flash of light.

**Homeworld**

Amethyst gaped when she saw Homeworld.

**(I'm kind of nervous with what canon Homeworld may look like, so I'm skipping the description)**

"Let's go, you all," Yellow Diamond said, giving them a gesture saying _Come on_.

Aquamarine laughed and said, "This is Homeworld. The epic city where the girls are pretty."

Amethyst laughed, but she was quite deadpanned on the inside.

Yellow Diamond led them to a building where young Gems played around with their weapons.

"This is where our Gems train," she informed them. "Wouldn't you like to train like that instead of hitting the rocks?"

Amethyst waited for Aquamarine to crack a joke, but none came. In fact, he wasn't paying much attention.

For definitely worse, he was staring at a female Gem their age who was about to enter the building.

Even worse, she was staring back.

She was slender and graceful-looking. She had white skin, some kind of white-tan hair, and turquoise eyes. She had a dress, like a ballet outfit, that was colored the same as her eyes. Her gem, a white oval, was right smack on her forehead.

Amethyst waved a hand in front of his face.

Aquamarine blinked, finally, and greeted, "Um, hello."

The Gem flinched and said, "Hello back mister…?"

"Aquamarine."

"It's a pleasure to… uh… are you a tour group with Yellow Diamond?"

"Yes."

"Yellow Diamond is leaving."

Aquamarine's head snapped behind him, and, sure enough, Yellow Diamond was moving on.

"OH, CRUD! GOT TO GO!" Amethyst blurted.

She ran off, hoping that Aquamarine would follow her lead.

"Your name is, what?" he asked the Gem.

"Pearl."

"Nice to meet you. Hope to see you sometime, Pearl."

Aquamarine ran to catch up with Amethyst.

Amethyst knew from then that she hated Pearl.

**5 field trip hours later**

"You Kindergarteners keep yourselves safe now," Yellow Diamond told them. "You are all allowed to stay for about three days. As soon as it ends, find me at the training center, capiche?"

"Okay!" the young Gems told her.

Everyone took their paths, and they split.

"So," Amethyst said to Aquamarine cheerfully. "What do you want to do?"

Aquamarine chuckled and replied, "I want to find Pearl."

"Sounds great," Amethyst told him, with a fake smile.

She followed Aquamarine as he went across Homeworld, looking for Pearl. She didn't understand why he loved this Pearl more than he loved her. They'd been hanging out for years, but now he falls for this pathetic, slim Gem who had given him twenty-one words only! For freak's sake!

The moment Amethyst thought Aquamarine had given up, he spotted a pale Gem who locked eyes with him.


	4. First Kiss

**Hey guys. I'm just here to say I'm pretty darn ticked off.**

**So, do you ever check the 'Moderate Reviews' thing? This is for writers only: Any guest who gives a review's review will be put in there, and you can fast approve or disapprove it.**

**Now, usually I get high praise from the SK49 quality, but something nasty happened.**

**Someone reviewed this story saying 'Why ship them with Gary Stus?' (plus, someone said something similar [completely rude] in a Tenkai Knights fic of mine. Sure it was the same guy/girl)**

**My commentators: WWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?!**

**Raven: Unacceptable!**

**Bravenwolf: Ridiculous!**

**Pikachu: WT (toot) man!**

**Foxy: YAAAR! MATEYS, LET'S GET HIM!**

**Donatello: That's a stupid thought!**

**Siris: What the (toot) do you think you're playing at, man!?**

**Alpha: ALERT. MUST TERRORIZE GUEST. TRACKING…**

**Hatty: You do not deserve to be with me and my friends!**

**Point is, Mary Sue (Gary Stu, for that matter) means perfect, right? It's opposite with Emerald, who sucks at almost everything. Half right with Aquamarine, who's not very braggy. Gold just… isn't.**

**In fact, I don't think the (toot) read the actual story in the first place.**

**All: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

Chapter 4: First Kiss

Amethyst was hoping that the trip to Homeworld would have adventure, fun, and some time for just her and Aquamarine to hang out.

Instead, Pearl had to come along with them. Like that was really her name.

_More like 'Dirt,' _Amethyst said.

"…we learn ourselves how to use our weapons," Aquamarine explained to Pearl.

"Interesting," she replied. "Here, our instructors teach us how to use our weapons. It is hard for us at the start, so we need help learning about our weapons."

"It's hard for us as well. I don't see why we can't have instructors…"

This kind of thing went on for hours, and Amethyst was getting sick of it.

**The Beach**

Emerald clenched and unclenced a fist, and growled, "Everybody thinks I'm dead weight. And to be honest, they're kind of right. I mean, I'm a klutz, not very smart, not strong, not fast, and whatnot. Everyone jokes I'm a defective Gem from the Kindergarten. I don't get this stuff…

Lapis put a hand on his shoulder and told him, "Not everyone's good at this stuff. Nobody's going to get their way."

"Yeah, that's true. But my point is, I make no point here. I mean, I'm barely making ends meet."

"Well, that makes two of us."

"Wait, WHAT?"

"I'm often seen as defective, too. Like, I've got a good memory, but that's all. I don't have a weapon or anything of the sort."

Emerald fell silent, then laughed.

"I didn't think I would meet anyone as bad as me," he said. "I mean, here I am thinking I'm the worst possible Gem, and here I am talking to one that ranks same as me."

He planted a kiss on her cheek. Lapis blushed.

"Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow," he said before running off.

Lapis stared straight ahead, watching the waves crash against the shore.

"Wow," she murmured.


	5. Gettin' Ticked Off

Chapter 5: Gettin' Ticked Off

There was only an hour left until it was time to go back to the Kindergarten, and Aquamarine was just saying his last goodbyes to Pearl.

Amethyst had said a polite 'bye,' but Aquamarine had gone to a dramatic 'I wish I didn't have to leave' goodbye, which Pearl responded the same to.

Amethyst wasn't listening to most of it, but one thing gained her attention.

Aquamarine kissed Pearl straight on the lips before turning away.

Amethyst went from shock, to sadness, to pure rage and jealousy.

Aquamarine said bye to a shocked Pearl and walked off to the rest of the Kindergarten Gems with Amethyst at his tail.

**The Kindergarten**

"…and don't forget, if you are good enough, you may be able to live in Homeworld!" Yellow Diamond called.

The Gems smiled waved and cheered one last time before she left.

Aquamarine went to talk to someone (about Pearl, undoubtedly), but Amethyst snatched his wrist and pulled him off somewhere.

When they came to a lonely spot, and Aquamarine demanded, "Amy, what's this all about?!"

Amethyst, holding back tears, shouted, "You were _snogging _that Gem!"

"So?"

"Oh come on! Why wasn't I the one!? I'm the one who you've grown up with! Why shouldn't it be me?!"

"Amethyst, I'm sorry to say I've never had any of those feelings for you. I've always viewed you as what humans call 'sisters.' Just… let me choose who I want to choose, okay?"

"H-how is that even possible?!"

"Listen, Amy, if you're going to take this like you are, then I don't think we can be friends with you criticizing my love life. Just… leave me be, okay?"

Aquamarine left without another word.


End file.
